Port Day #1 - Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Day 2, Thursday, January 4, 2024, Moving from the Atlantic into the Caribbean; Half Moon Cay

Good morning! The sea has been very choppy ever since we left Port Everglades. As we were sitting at dinner in the Pinnacle Grill last night, we could feel the boat rocking and see proof in our wine glasses as the beverage sloshed gently back and forth in the glass. I woke this morning feeling much better than when I went to bed, but I had awakened about five times through the night. Ah, new places, new spaces.

Today was a port day, with guests tendering into Half Moon Cay, the private island owned by HAL. Jas, M&M and I had been there on our Eastern Caribbean cruise a year ago. We got caught in rain there, and I have bad memories of that day. I had no desire to go ashore, choosing instead to enjoy my own private sea day.

My day began at the Greenhouse Spa with a Restorative Salt Stone Massage, proficiently administered by Margerie. In retrospect, this may have been the best massage I've experienced in my life. I'll see her again on Monday for another go-round.

I spent the rest of the morning relaxing in our cabin, reading and writing. I decided to go for a burger and those incredible fries at the Dive-In, by the Lido Pool. Jas was having his massage at 11:30, and I texted him about the time he was finishing to meet me by the pool for his burger.

Back to the room afterwards for more reading and writing, then I went at 3:00 for a doodle designs class in the Art Studio. I've played around with Zentangle® books several times, and love the concept, so I had fun with this class. Of course I drew a [rudimentary] piano as the basis for my artistic doodles. Then back to the room to dress for dinner. We met our pals at 5:00 in the Ocean Bar, then were able to get a table for six in the MDR for dinner.

Hendra, the maître d', assisted us in procuring a last minute table, and our wait staff was A.A. (Sudiarta) and Dwinda. I chose the Seafood Deviled Eggs with smoked salmon, crab, honey-mustard dressing for my appetizer, and Salmon with Amber Beer Béarnaise, maple-glazed carrots, and crispy mashed potato cakes for my entrée. Jas's entrée was Fresh Red Snapper with Garlic Butter, wild rice, and spinach. For dessert I asked A.A. to tell me what the tart of the day was. Usually, it's some sort of fruit, and not posted on the menu. Tonight it was a Chocolate Bourbon Tart. Wonderful! I took pictures of all the desserts, as each looked better than the one next to it. Jas and Marilyn got the Red Velvet Cake, Mike took the Mango Mousse Terrine with mango and passion fruit, and Tom and Kerry each got the Bread Pudding of the day with warm rum vanilla sauce. Note the presentation of each of these pastries—every dot on the plate carefully placed.

Photos: 1) My deviled eggs - creamy, not mushy. Wonderful! 2) Wanted you to see the logo on the silverware. It wasn't visible on yesterday's photo. 3) Delicious salmon entrée. 4) Jas's red snapper. He ate every bite. 5) My chocolate bourbon tart. 6) Jas's Red Velvet Cake. 7) Mike's Mango Mousse Terrine. We joked that he had a stick of butter for dessert. That's what it resembled. 8) Bread Pudding with warm rum vanilla sauce. These portions were double what we're accustomed to seeing in portion size.

After dinner, we headed to the Tamarind Bar, which is on the top deck aft, overlooking the Lido Pool. The views from that space, which only exists on a few ships, is stunning. Jas, Mike and Marilyn stayed for a drink while I went to the Crow's Nest to spend a little time on a [very difficult] jigsaw puzzle. And then "home" to watching another episode of "The Affair" on Paramount (downloaded to my iPad) and turn out the light.

Photos: I'm usually very good with jigsaw puzzles. This one is h*a*r*d!! I worked on it alone for about half an hour. I think I placed three pieces! If you can't see clearly in the picture, it has the picture on one side and letters on the other side. It's divided into sections with the section letter printed on the back. So one plan would be to sort them by letters first, and then turn the pieces over, one letter section at a time, to assemble the pieces.

Tomorrow is a legitimate sea day. Peaceful vacation time.

And, on "tomorrow" as I write this, I'm sitting on the verandah. It's 79° and partly cloudy. I hear the passengers who live nextdoor to me playing Rummikub on their verandah. I only know it's Rummikub as one tile flew out of someone's hand and slid under the verandah divider. I slid it back to them across the deck. Life at sea! 😃